EU Law: Comment and Analysis

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Forthcoming EU law events

From time to time we will draw to readers’ attention to lectures, seminars, conferences and other events concerned with EU law which promise to be interesting and insightful. Many of these will be UK-based events, but we will also point out events elsewhere.

Here are a few events, in chronological order, which have caught our eye recently:

1. European Convergence? The European Union’s Participation in the European Convention on Human Rights

In view of the recent publication of a draft agreement on the accession of the EU to the ECHR, this conference, organised by the British Institute for International and Comparative Law, ought to be very topical. It will take place at the Society of Edinburgh on Friday 14 October. It will be chaired by Sir David Edward, formerly the British judge at the Court of Justice, and features a range of eminent speakers including the Deputy President of the UK Supreme Court, Lord Hope.

2. The Annual Lecture of the UK Association for European Law: The Composition of the European Court of Justice

This year’s UKAEL Annual Lecture will be delivered by Lord Mance, a Justice of the UK Supreme Court, on 19 October. He is a member of the new panel set up pursuant to Article 255 TFEU to scrutinise nominations for appointment to the ECJ. We understand that the panel has not given every nomination a clean bill of health, so it will be fascinating to hear Lord Mance’s thoughts on its work and on the Court more generally.

3. EU Law in Practice

Students interested in practising in the area of EU law should certainly try to attend this annual event on 10 November, where practitioners and officials will explain how EU law arises in their everyday work, what it is like to plead at the Luxembourg courts, and much more besides. You will get to hear from a solicitor, a barrister, a government lawyer, as well as UKAEL officers with professional experience in the European Institutions.

4. “20th Anniversary of the Francovich Decision”

Another BIICL conference, this time on the seminal Francovich judgment and its legacy. According to the blurb, the conference “will include a variety of perspectives on the Francovich decision and its aftermath, featuring in particular a substantive and statistical overview of case law in line with the decision, as well as an examination of the decision’s impact on competition and procurement”. The event, which takes place on 17 November, will also incorporate the perspectives of other Member States on the subject of how Francovich was received in the domestic sphere.

5. Reflections on the role of European Union law through the financial and economic crisis

A joint UKAEL/ISEL conference on the issue at the forefront of EU policymakers’ minds. Not only does the programme look very good; it is also co-organised by a friend of mine, Donogh Hardiman, so I could hardly miss it off the list…